Snow White?

Rell
was lecturing
Democrats
about ethics in government while managing to avoid any blame for Rowland administration corruption, although she was Rowland's lieutenant governor.

Amann won't call her Snow White anymore, as a compliment or as a criticism.

Abandoning the above-the-fray approach she has taken since becoming governor in July 2004, Rell has shown herself capable of throwing mud just like the other politicians in Hartford.

Amann, a Democrat, says Rell, a Republican, called him Monday to insist that Democrats stop investigating her chief of staff,
Lisa Moody
, who is embroiled in a fundraising scandal.

He says Rell told him Republicans are aware that Democrats in the legislature might have a fundraising scandal of their own. Amann says he saw the call as a "hint" that Republicans would retaliate if the Moody investigation doesn't end.

If the governor of Connecticut knows of wrongdoing in state government, she should take public action not try to make secret deals.

Rell does not deny talking to Amann about what Republicans might charge against Democrats. She says she was just comparing it as "the same thing Lisa did."

What Moody did is unacceptable and should not be excused. The governor did suspend her without pay for two weeks, but since then has claimed the controversy is over. It isn't. It can't be.

On state time, Moody called commissioners and deputy commissioners to her office and directed them to distribute invitations to a fundraiser for Rell.

Moody's actions quickly became public and an investigation began. Commissioners and deputy commissioners are prohibited by law from soliciting campaign donations. The commissioners who followed Moody's directions were fined.

A legislative committee investigated the incident. The hearings were much too partisan, on both sides.

It turns out Moody wasn't as candid as she should have been with the committee. She claimed she didn't know the details of the ethics standards set by Rell and shouldn't be held accountable. That claim has now been contradicted by a memo announcing the ethics standards with Moody's handwritten suggestions for changes.

This controversy is about more than Lisa Moody, Rell's long-time aide and friend.

Rell has preached a high standard for conduct in public office. It is the right standard for Connecticut and it should apply to everyone, including Rell and Moody.